Calill Explains
by Thingy Person
Summary: Calill lays out the practicalities of magic as presented in my stories. WARNING: Calill is mean.


_**Author's Note: **This is not a series, it's simply an explanation for the way I will handle magic in my other stories. Magic in FE has always been a little dodgy, so I'm going to lay out my view on it right here, though it may conflict directly with the games. What better person to convince you than Calill? Below lies transcribed her wisdom on mag/res, bonus damage, the practicalities of spellcasting and the nature of tomes. Listen closely._

**Warning: **Calill dissing people, the (censored) F-word, sort-of lesbianism.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Fire Emblem, Ratchet & Clank or The Matrix P

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Listen up you lard-balls! That was the most _pathetic_ performance I have ever _seen_ on that assignment! Want to know why? BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL DOING IT WRONG.

I mean, Maraj, look at you, desperately looking for the right page when your enemy is about to attack. You should've done your studying beforehand! And Wystan, learning your incantations by heart won't do you any good. Magic means nothing if you don't _understand_ what you're saying.

My, my...what am I to do with you? Alright, let's start over from the very beginning.

Magic is a spiritual force – any child knows that much – meant to materialise through the senses of self-aware beings. In other words, the mind makes it real.

When a mage begins casting a spell, he or she begins by putting themself in a trance of sorts. This trance is fueled with ideas garnered from whatever discipline the mage professed in. The extent to the mage's ability to understand and soak up these ideas is magic potency. For example, Oliver has crap magic, because he can't seem to deal with the fact that light magic does not encompass beauty, molesting herons or what-have-you. Izuka, on the other hand, is extremely proficient in dark magic because he is a sick f---.

Now. Once the mage has achieved this state of mind, he or she must try to appeal to the senses of his or her target. How one does this, a skill not unlike telepathy, remains a mystery to this day. But the result is all the same; an undeveloped mind struck with fire magic will think it is real fire, and experiences it as real fire. Which means he'll be burnt to a crisp. The spiritual energy translates to reality through the minds of others. A more powerful mind can discern real fire from "magical" fire, thereby pulling the brakes on how much the spell will affect them. The strength of the victim's willpower in order to fend off magic attacks is called "resistance". Take, for example, Nephenee. Under that unassuming face resides an iron will, so she is naturally more resistant than Boyd, who is a total douche. It's all about the mind. That's why women have generally higher resistance than manfolk, capiche?

A phobia helps cripple resistance. After all, if a pyrophobe sees fire forming around them, the mind will panick, and resisting becomes that much harder. Did you know the blades of air most prominent in wind magic were designed as to correspond with the bird tribes' worst nightmares? Likewise, dragons and wyverns have an age-old adversity toward lightning, as do beast laguz to fire. It's not limited to instinctual fears, though; a person unusually timid in nature may be more susceptible to dark magic than to any other type.

Now to adress your reading behavior. It is not – and I can't stress this enough – _not _recommended to bend over your tome in the midst of battle. If you see a fellow magician seemingly reading their tome while casting, he/she is simply reciting the words out loud to get a better grip. Having the right page ready helps as a confidence boost, but is not conductive in any other way. That, or they're using a siege tome (and I love siege tomes, but we'll get to that later). If you have trouble learning a certain chapter, forcing you to reference the written lines too often, try focusing on a weaker spell for now. You'll see that it becomes easier the more you use it, allowing your spiritual imagination to house more concentrated magic. And if you think you've reached the limit to your potential, switch to a lighter tome, without the stronger spells. There's no point in carrying around a Rexbolt if all you've ever mustered is a puny Elthunder. I should mentioned Arch Sages, magicians who have dabbled in magic for so long that they're no longer limited to the ideas presented within tomes and are able to concoct their own alterations of spells as their own mind suits them. Soren's frosty take on wind magic comes to mind.

However, this doesn't mean Arch Sages don't need tomes. Tomes are the key to the spiritual dimention, the one aspect of magic we haven't come to understand. Tomes are fabricated with the same kind of – in lack of a better term – _force_ displayed in laguz traits, such as transforming, galdrar, dragon breath, etc. And here follows a less prestigous side of the story: this "magic" force is harvested in the form of laguz items, such as olivi grass. A tome writer then intoxicates himself with the item and uses the newly acquired "inspiration" to write the tome. These words are somehow translated back into magic when a spell is cast. When the energy infused into the tome is used up, the tome breaks. The method to prepare olivi grass is one of many hot topics being persued by mercenaries and tradesmen alike. In fact, a lot of beorc have tried questioning laguz (sometimes through torture) in hopes of acquiring some kind of recipe, but of course it doesn't do them any good. Olivi grass is a spice that grows naturally in some regions of Gallia, or so I'm told. As if I were to adress some stranger and ask them the origins of their clothes, or the weapon they're holding. Do _you_ know the origin of your weapon? Of course not. I just told you! Haha...

So! Did you get all of this? You'll feel my wrath if you didn't. I expect a grade A performance from all of you come tomorrow. Dismissed!

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_Why did I portray Calill this way? No idea. I couldn't bother keeping it up throughout the whole lecture, but I'm sure it helped for some comic relief. I also didn't proofread. You know, tl;dr.  
_


End file.
